Location
25 E 13th St, E304 (3rd floor)
*The Donghia Healthier Materials Library will be providing resources remotely as The New School adapts and responds to the COVID-19 situation. Many of these resources can be found on the Tools & Guides page above, or feel free to email DhML Director, Jack Dinning, for additional requests.
Contact
Jack Dinning
Director, Donghia healthier Materials LibraryAbout
The Donghia healthier Materials Library at Parsons School of Design is a resource center dedicated to helping designers make responsible materials decisions. With curated product collections and frameworks for evaluating materials, we offer guiding strategies and hands-on examples of products making positive impacts on human health, environmental justice, and social equity.
To learn more about the Library and how we curate our healthier materials collections, please watch this short video.
What makes a ‘healthier’ material?
While there is no universal standard for what makes a ‘healthier’ material, we look to be holistic in considering the impacts materials can have through their extraction, processing, use, and disposal, and all those who may be affected along the way. In order to make these many considerations more approachable to designers, the Donghia healthier Materials Library has been working with BrightWorks Sustainability to develop the evaluation lens seen below, which organizes more than a hundred factors for assessing materials into six primary categories of impacts. This tool is gives designers a framework for comparing different product options and thinking more expansively about the impacts of their choices, empowering them to take greater responsibility in their materials decisions.
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Visit the Donghia Healthier Materials Library!
Browse our collections of healthier products
Create a swatch board for your project
Learn how to evaluate materials for health and sustainability impacts
Consult with library staff on materials questions
Check out samples for in-class presentations
Schedule a meeting for advising with the library director
Bring small groups, classes, and project teams in for a visit and orientation!
Our Samples
From flooring to paint to insulation, Donghia Materials Library offers a wide variety of innovative material samples. Some highlights include:
Biomason
Wheatboard
Denim Insulation
Ecor Board
Wool Insulation
Linoleum-Marmoleum
Hempcrete
Rewall
Milk Paint
Interested in more material collections?
Join Our Academic Network
Get Access to our carefully researched and curated academic resources, including model syllabi and webinars. An email from an academic institution or a .edu email address is required. If your academic institution does not use .edu email addresses but you would like to join the network, please contact affordhealth@newschool.edu.
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